Asoka Pillar

INDIA, Bihar, Lauria Nandangarh

The Asoka Pillars are named after their builder, the Buddhist King Asoka (reigned circa 269–232 BCE) of Maurya. Many of these pillars are inscribed with edicts of King Asoka on topics related to morality and Buddhist teachings, as well as accounts of the king’s pilgrimages to Buddhist sites. The majority of the pillars were erected near Buddhist stupas, Buddhist settlements, or places associated with the Buddha’s life, such as Lumbini, Sarnath, Vaishali, Sankisa, Bodhgaya, Kushinagar, Rajagriha, Sravasti, Sanchi, and Amaravati. Chinese pilgrims Master Faxian and Master Xuanzang wrote about these pillars after their travels to India in the 5th and 7th centuries. Since the 18th century archaeologists have found over thirty Asoka Pillars in India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, but most of them are in fragments. This pillar at Lauriya Nandangarh and the one at Vaishali are the only two pillars that remain fully intact at their original locations, and only this one has inscriptions of Asoka edicts.
The pillar was constructed from a single piece of sandstone in 243 BCE. It is around 10 m high with a base diameter of 90 cm, gradually narrowing to 57 cm at the top. Apart from the six Asoka edicts inscribed on the shaft, the rest of the pillar is plain with the capital as the only decoration. The base of the capital is shaped like an inverted lotus. Above the base there is a round abacus that supports a single seated lion. Eight wild geese, flying from left to right, are carved onto the sides of the abacus. These were sacred birds in India, while the number “eight” was considered auspicious in ancient times. The head of the lion is slightly damaged but the details are still visible from the curly mane and the roaring mouth, right down to the individual whiskers.